Documents on the Web site marked with this icon are Real Media streaming video clips that can be played on demand using RealPlayer software. Clicking the icon will bring you back to this help page. The streaming video player is available for free from the Real Media Player download site. Or, for NIH Staff:

Once RealPlayer is loaded on your computer, the following configuration and viewing information may be helpful:

Configuring RealPlayer - Click Tools, Preferences, then the Connection tab and make sure that Normal bandwidth and Maximum bandwidth are set to the appropriate values based on your connection. You may also want to uncheck the "Send" options under the Internet/Privacy tab to avoid sending RealPlayer information about your video sessions.

Viewing Video Clips - When viewing clips, it is possible to change the size of the video screen. It is recommended that this be done through the View, Zoom menus (or Zoom Level icon), rather than resizing with with the cursor from the corners of the screen. This avoids automatic resizing to defaults when two or more clips are joined together.

Clips Not Available - There are a limited number of video streams that can be served simultaneously. Therefore, if you get a message that the selected video is not available or the server has reached the maximum number of users, please try back later.

In general, each video clip is offered in a high speed and a low speed option. In some cases, a downloadable version of the clip may also be available. See the following for option details:

High Speed - Recommended for users with DSL, Cable Modem or Corporate LAN connections. Viewing at this speed will usually provide fairly good quality results, depending on the quality of the original recording.

Low Speed - Recommended for users with 56k or slower modem access. Quality at this speed may be poor and the viewing size on the screen is small. In many cases, the audio works fine but the video will only refresh every few seconds. In that event, you may want to choose to download the video clip and play it from your local hard drive, if a downloadable version is available.

Download (Not Available for all Clips) - Allows you to save the video file locally for the best quality playback. Video files are very large (e.g. 50MB+), thus it may take several hours to download for users with slower internet access. If this option is available, right clicking the Download Option link, and choosing "Save Link As" will give you more control over where the video is saved on your local drive.

If you have any questions about using streaming video clips on this site or experience any problems, please e-mail the OER Webmaster. Be sure to include the specifics of any problems and the URL of the video clip.